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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Let's start on the front porch... not a whole lot going on there this year. But it wouldn't be Halloween without this witch and owl wallhanging I made back in 2000. It is one of my absolute favourite pieces and I look forward to putting it out by my front door this time every year.

Here's another little wall hanging I stitched with another witch and owl on it (plus a black cat thrown in the mix!)... along with a cute vintage looking sign that Bonnie gave each of the 3 of us last Halloween time (thanks Bonnie!)

Step inside and you will get your first glimpse of our newly renovated "sitting room". It's been a long process and there's still a bit more to do, but you get the idea. Once it's totally complete, I will show more with the before and after pics. For this posting I mainly wanted to share my fall/ Halloween decorating ideas.

I knew when I saw this Bent Creek pattern I just had to stitch it! Who hasn't hollered out this phrase while hurrying down the street on Halloween night, excited to see what goodies were waiting for you at your next stop? Oh, how I miss those days!

This little pumpkin man carrying his Jack-O-Lantern was a birthday gift a few years back (thanks Jody!). He looks right at home perched on top of a pile of chestnuts, with a few fall leaves mixed in... along with beautiful gold coloured curtains as the perfect backdrop which were made for me by another member of our little group (thanks Anita!).

Ghouls Night Out was sure a fun, quick stitch! It was the first time I had ever tried Vicki Clayton's hand-dyed silk threads(Fool's Gold & Primitive Black) What a treat! I will definitely be using these lovely threads again!

I have to thank our talented contractor for thinking to put this ledge above the closet he installed.

Not only is there room to display my goodies, but he also thought to put rope lighting along the back of it and also hooked it up to the light switch! You can't tell in this pic, but at night it just gives a really nice glow to the space :^)

I've really had fun decorating for the fall season for the first time in this new room. I've really loved checking out a lot of your other blogs for inspiration too. Seems like I'm not the only one who gets so much joy from this beautiful time of year!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

When Tracey first offered to teach me how to cross stitch 18 years ago, she left me with some pattern books to decide what I would like to learn on. On her next visit, I showed her the design I wanted to do. It was of a Victorian style angel's head and wings. Pretty intricate, lots of detailing, back stitching, 1/4 and 3/4 stitches etc. She kept insisting, "Are you sure you don't want to try to learn on something simpler?" Nope, I'm good. I had no problem catching on and quite loved the challenge.

As years went by I chose such projects as large pieces that were 'stitched over two' (that one took me 5 years, but I was in college at the time so that's my excuse - we'll show that picture closer to Christmas...). I even chose a pattern of a little girl in a dress and I really didn't like the colours in the dress so I changed the pattern. I simply laid out all the colours of the dress that the pattern called for in the corals and oranges and then I laid out all my blue colours beside each one and found the right shades and tones to correspond. Then I just replaced the number beside the original colour. Easy. I'm sure you've all done it.

To top that all off my Labour of Love photo stitch that took me a little over 197 hours to complete; it was a lovely photo of a couple that I gave to them as a wedding gift and ....they are now divorced. I have the picture back and I'm studying it to see if I can RIP him OUT of the picture. I'm undecided about that as yet???

Recently took part in a Secret Sister Cross Stitch Exchange and one of my gifts was a gift certificate to 1-2-3 Stitch. I had a blast shopping on that site. Oh and Jayne...your Heaven and Earth 'Xmas" (snowman and little girl) inspired me to choose something similar. I chose 'Dear Santa'; it's adorable. See the photo below of what it will look like once complete.

However, even though I love challenges - I confess I nearly fainted when I saw that there are 20+ pages of pattern graphs. (Small pattern graphs I might add.) I'm really going to have to study this before I begin working on this project. I'm curious to see how long this picture will take me. I plan to log my hours ... you know... just for the fun of it. There are over 90 different colours in this pattern and I think I watched 2 or 3 movies while I wound the floss to "kit-up" my project.

I think I'll head to the lottery store now for a ticket. One that will go BIG so I can stay at home!

Contributors

About Us

Hello and welcome! We're Jody, Tracey, Bonnie and Anita, and we're so glad you stopped by our blog for a visit!

Our love of stitching is what brought our group together 20 years ago, but what we truly cherish is the amazing friendship that the 4 of us share; a bond which continues to grow stronger as the years go by.

As you read our blog, you will see it has a little bit of everything - hence the name, More Than Just Cross Stitchin'. We hope you'll come back again soon!

Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Welcome to Jody's

It's a Dishcloth!

No... It's 2 Perfect Ones!

Anita's Chicken

Anita created this from looking at a picture from a magazine. No pattern. THAT girl !!!

Tracey working away with her crochet hooks she bought when she was in Grade 7 along with a beginner book. Her determination to learn by herself at such a young age is admiring.

Here is one of Tracey's projects on the go.

Anita's handy work

Warm toes

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

Where Does the Time Go?

Heatwave July 21, 2011

Anita's Lucky Charm

Winter Storm December 12, 2010

The storm didn't stop this Bloomin' Rose

Happy Birthday Dad

Dad was born on Armistice Day - November 11, 1918. Shown here with his favourite show off 'Charlie Brown' the monkey.

The Feathered Nest

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.